At least six people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a Russian “double-tap” strike on a shopping center in central Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday.
“The attack drones struck in two waves: half an hour after the first strike and the resulting fire, there was a second strike targeting emergency responders,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on Telegram.
Footage geolocated by CNN shows a drone hitting a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, causing a fireball to erupt into the sky as it explodes, all while smoke from an apparent earlier strike is still visible.
Smoke filled the inside of the shopping center as people hurriedly tried to leave, videos filmed at the scene show. Stores inside the shopping center caught fire, Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s defense council, said.
Vilkul said 103 people had been wounded. At least 27 of those are in serious condition, he said, including a 14-year-old girl with a traumatic brain injury and two other children.
Russia has intensified its aerial assault on Ukraine in recent months as the frontlines remain largely static, locked in a slow-moving, deadly stalemate, and Ukraine’s air defenses come under strain.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
